The Four Nations
by Daimon5hade
Summary: Cai Feng is a boy running away from his past and Republic City was the perfect place to hide. He wants nothing more than to disappear and not be noticed, but when he accepts an invitation to meet the Four Nations, he starts on adventure unlike anything he knows. Will he thrive in the Underworld of Republic city? or will his secrets destroy him?
1. Every Story has a Beginning

**A/N - This story is set a short time before Korra arrives in Republic City and all its main characters will be OC if you haven't already guessed. The Cast of TLoK might make small appearances, but (hopefully) nothing that contradicts what happens in the series.**

* * *

In hindsight, maybe I should have joined the workhouse like all the other kids. I should have gone to the door, cried to be let in and I would have bed and food for 5 years. So maybe there was a chance I would get caught in a machine, but I would have kept my earthbending. I guess I should start with how I met him. Who you may ask? Well let me tell you the story of how Cai Feng met Huan of the four nations.

* * *

"So you think you got the stuff?"

I looked the guy up and down as he said this. He was a 14 year old just like me. But funnily enough he was 6 feet tall and had muscles like a giant gorilla-goat.

"Yeah". I wondered how I could possibly sound more idiotic.

The guy shrugged and let me through. I walked through a dirty and torn curtain to the equally shabby interior of the apartment. I had seen plenty of places in Republic City: The good, the bad, and the not-so bad. This place wasn't particularly high on that list.

Its floors were dusty and parts were un-boarded, revealing rusted water pipes. The windows were smudged in grime and only furniture were boxes and a torn up sofa. The only things that weren't dirty were the plants. Potted plants were in every corner of the room, their ceramic vases immaculate and filled to the brim with dirt.

_That's useful_.

On the other side of the room was a curtain similar to the one I had just walked through. Children from 8 – 17 years old huddled around the walls of the room; all of them were injured in some way or another. A guy moved between them, looked about 15, the distinct glow of healing followed him wherever he went. He had azure blue sleeveless shirt and shorts, his head was shaved except for a stripe down the middle and a short ponytail.

_Definitely a waterbender_.

"Hey I've been waiting longer than her!" shouted a 17 year-old next to him.

I watched as the waterbender stepped away from a 10 year-old calmly, putting the water back into his satchel and turn lazily towards him. "Lee I've told you before, it's not how old you are its how serious the case. Not to mention that you got those burns from getting into a fight with the Agni-Kais."

"They were musclin' on our take,"

"They were smirking as they walked past,"

"They kicked over my stand!" Steam and smoke shot from his nose like exhaust pipes and a few of the bulbs broke.

"Be that as it may, they didn't take any of your money or injure you. You shouldn't have attacked them, you _should _have let Dragon handle it,"

"That's it I don't have to take this from some water tribe kid," He stood up and lit fire in his hands getting ready to throw them.

I fiddled with my bangles uncomfortably and weighed up my options, I could duck behind the sofa, but then it could catch fire. Or I could leave the way I came, losing my chance at meeting whoever it was that had brought me here.

_No I can't leave, I need to find him._

In the end it didn't matter, a blindfolded figure stepped through the curtains at the other end of the room.

_Wait. __Blindfolded kid? It couldn't be._

"Huan, perfect timing," casually said the water bender. That's when Lee attacked a quick right, then left jab. Fire shot from his hands. Some of the children screamed but the blindfolded teenager did nothing. The waterbender wrapped the water around his hands and caught the fire. The water completely evaporated.

"What ya gonna do now? Huh? No water – no bending" taunted Lee

The water bender ignored the question and examined his nails "That was a very poor place to stand"

Time slowed down

"What?"

The waterbender stopped examining his hands.

"Stop talking and fight!"

He brought his hands to his sides.

Lee breathed in, getting ready to unleash a hail of fireballs.

The water bender brought his hands up in a fluid motion. I watched as, in an instant, water burst up from a pipe underneath the floorboard and froze lee in mid-attack.

Time seemed to stop as the room sat in silence at what they had just seen.

"Make sure he can breathe, Ying" said the blindfolded figure.

"Yeah, yeah," Ying flicked his hand and the ice around Lee's head liquefied. Lee tried to say something but couldn't stop coughing and taking in air.

"Are you the kid?"

I looked at the blindfolded kid and mumbled something. I was shocked, I had never seen water bending like that, much less from a 15 year-old. Ying just cracked a grin and shrugged at the blindfolded teen, "Newbies" He strolled through the curtain. Then the other one gestured me to follow and went in. I took a deep breath and walked through the curtains.

Inside was another room. It was in the same condition as the previous; upturned, broken floorboards, barely covered rusted pipes. Red, blue, green and white curtains covered the wooden furniture, the only feature that was different between the two rooms. Kids between 12 and 17 filled the room. Unlike the other room however, these kids were in perfect health. I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise as a couple of them turned to me. I focused on the blindfolded kid who stood next to a ten year-old who was writing something down on the desk. But I couldn't help but notice some of the characters gathered here.

There were these twins, at least I thought they were twins. They had dark skin and tattoos in the shape of eye masks, over their faces. They each carried a bow, a quiver of arrows and a small cross bow on their lithe figures. In another corner sat thin guy juggling some daggers, they seemed to float between his arms, his hands moving with the fluidity of a viper. He looked over at me and smiled. I reached for my purse, to assure myself it was still there.

There were a couple of other guys, but there wasn't anything distinguishing about them.

"Name?"

"What?" I bumped into the desk, the floorboards shook for a second and a vase fell over. The kid writing said nothing and looked at Huan.

"Your name, not difficult," Huan said.

"I hope not." I heard some people snicker. I turned around and saw that the speaker was a girl the same age as me. She had long black hair and dark red eyes. She wore dark red top that exposed her stomach and red trousers. She looked like a firebender.

"You got a problem with me?" The room fell silent. I had clearly misread this girl. I waited to see what would happen.

She lit flames in her hand, they were azure blue. She was challenging me.

I forced myself not to jump back. _Blue flames, the sign of a prodigy. Great choice of opponent Cai. _

She moved into a combat stance and punched, flames searing from her fists. I Instinctively deflected her arm, I heard the flames roar past me and sizzle out, probably another kid blocking them. But that wasn't my concern, she followed with her right fist, I caught before she could produce flames and held on. She tried to punch me in the face with her free hand but I caught that as well. It turned to a battle of strength, me v. her. Or that's what I thought. She slid under me and used my momentum to throw me behind her with legs. Straight through the fifth-floor window. _Great._

* * *

Ying ran up to his sister. "What did you just do!"

"Threw a guy out of a fifth floor window" she said casually.

"Huan don't you have anything to say about this?!"

"Calm down, Ying. He's fine," he said trying to calm down the now manic waterbender.

"What how can you possi..." He looked at Huan's blindfolded face.

"Oooh"

* * *

The second I started falling I grabbed my bracers and earthbended them into gloves. Maybe I should explain. I wore braces made of dirt. Well, stone actually. Call me paranoid but I end up in situations like this more often than not and having some earth handy is always useful.

I pushed my arms out; they instantly connected with the brick walls. I willed the stone to grapple and it stopped me. I looked down and saw there were still 30 feet to the ground. I reached up and climbed, using earthbending to keep me from falling and create small ledges to climb from. When I was about 3 feet from the window ledge a hand extended down. I took it. I dusted myself off and was about to thank my benefactor. It was _her_.

"What, no thanks?" She said sarcastically.

I stared at her incredulously. I probably should have left then, but I still had a feeling that these guys knew where _he _was.

"That's the spirit! You're clearly fine." She then said to Huan, " I like him, the newbie's good, she turned to leave, completely unconcerned.

Ying looked at me concerned. He came over and started examining me, lifting my arms and poking my legs.

I stood there stunned. I hadn't been thrown off a building since…

"Are you okay?" he asked

I bended my gloves back into bracers and said "Yeah, who was that?"

"My sister, Dragon. Surprisingly enough this is probably one of the better times she has met a new recruit."

"If it makes you feel any better, most people scream when they meet her." said Ying a smile coming across his face.

"What was that?" she turned around angrily at Ying.

" I didn't say anyth-"

" Shut up Ying, I-"

" Like to scare children?" Ying finished

Dragon exhaled, she flexed here hands angrily, sparks jumped between her fingers excitedly.

_Blue flames, sure why not lightning as well! _ I thought

"Enough." Huan stamped his foot. The vases in the room all jumped off the floor. " Stop fighting and let -"

" I don't have to listen t-" Dragon said angrily, the sparks between her fingers growing larger and more erratic.

" Let me finish." The room went silent.

He paused to check his voice had the desired effect. Dragon looked at him and closed her fist, the sparks dissipated instantly.

"Ying stop annoying Dragon, you're supposed to be the mature one,"

"I don't throw newbies out windows,"

Dragon raised her fist to firebend, when the unexpected happened. Huan moved inbetween them, grabbed Ying's shirt by the chest and collar, and threw him out of the already broken window.

"…"

"So your name is Cai feng" said the boy at the desk

"… Am I missing something here?"

"What do you mean?"

"HE. JUST. THREW HIM. OUT OF A WINDOW!"

"There is no reason to be alarmed" A calm voice said from the other side of the room.

It was a girl, sitting down, appearing to be meditating. She was dressed like a monk. An air temple monk. That was weird. She was wearing an open orange shawl over loose fitting clothes. She looked to be about 13, but I could tell that, just like the others, there was something different about her. The next moment there was an explosion outside and the sound of rushing water.

"What was that?" I asked

"Ying sticking the landing," said one of the archer twins.

"Okay Cai Feng, do you know the drill?" Said the kid. "My name's Hanyu"

"The drill?"

"You are just one of 14 prospects that show the skill to join the us, organizing the tracks and tricks-" said Huan

"Tracks and tricks?"

"Is this guy a green?" Ying clambered out of the window.

"Talk says he's a freelancer that took down 6 red monsoons and triple threats" Said other archer. The guy juggling daggers just nodded.

"Is he an agni kai?"

"Course not, he's an earthbender"

"Why'd he do it?" someone muttered

"Guys say that a couple of drafts' escape plan took them straight into a gang fight"

"Can someone explain what the HELL is going on?" I shouted.

Everyone stopped and looked at me.

"He's a green, you need to explain what's going on" The meditating girl said.

"Why me? You or you could to do it Mei" Huan said.

"You're both earthbenders". She said it as if that explained everything. "And me and Ying have to check the pipes are fixed,"

"Fine"

"What do you mean green? What's a draft?"

The blindfolded kid grabbed my shirt by the back and jumped out the window. Again.

* * *

Free fall. It is both a combination of exhilarating and terrifying, funnily enough after being thrown out the window the first time I just felt annoyed. I looked down and saw how it was that Ying has survived the fall. He had burst one of the floor pipes and uses the water to create a huge slide. I looked at Huan, one of his hands was connected to the wall, sliding along to ensure he didn't fall to the side and onto the flat section of the slide. I pushed off his hand. I bended my bracer it into a sharp point. I stuck it into the wall. It made a grating sound as it slowed my fall. Huan was already sliding down, I didn't really know how he saw the slide but I guess that didn't matter. My makeshift gauntlet, started making skidding sound instead as it met the ice slide and glided over the surface. I lost my grip and slid on my chest for the last 15 feet. A foot stepped on my back and stopped my sliding, it was Huan. He offered his hand so I gripped his forearm and pulled myself up. Huan took some of my flint gauntlet as I did this. "These things weigh a ton,"

"I prefer having some rock to bend"

"Why?"

"It helps to be prepared" I answered quickly.

"Ahuh" He nodded reformed the gauntlet into a glove. He then knelt down, pulled his arm back and smashed it into the ground.

The was a crack.

"Hmmm. This will require delicacy,". He got up, raised his hands to chest level and waited. I watched as suddenly he tensed all the muscles in his body, brought his arms inwards and stamped down on the crack.

The sound was like thunder, the crack rapidly grew until it covered the ice and shattered like glass.

"Did I say delicacy? I meant destructiveness"

I had come to the point that this just didn't surprise me, instead I was angry. "I have been chucked out of a window twice today. What the hell is going on here?" I grabbed his right arm and took back my bracers. I wanted to leave, groups have always attracted too much attention when I've moved from town to town, here would be no different.

"We're the four nations"

"What does that even mean?"

"We are a group of kids that look out for each other,"

"Sounds like a gang"

"Kinda,"

"I'm out." I started to walk off. Gangs were bad news. Then Huan grabbed my shoulder.

"Wait, Cai, At least let me take you to Jin and Song,"

I paused.

* * *

A few days ago I had been walking through the streets, counting my decent loot from a day of ,well, lets say stealth trading, when a group of well-dressed people, pull up the other side of the road, get out of the car and shove past me, causing me to drop everything.

I was about to shout when I saw that from the other side, some equally –well-dressed blue clothed guys were heading towards them. Maybe it was just me but it didn't look like they were there to have a reasonable, well thought out debate.

I had started to walk away, leaving my loot behind, when I saw that two girls had just run out from the back alley, they must have been six years old they had dirty clothes that were frayed at the edges. They carried small satchels, just like the one I had been carrying moments before and they were running straight through the middle of the road.

That's when the first fireball was thrown. I should probably explain. Well-dressed people don't often come downtown. By not often I mean, you're more likely to see a dragon flying overhead. The only people who EVER came smartly dressed were triads. Benders who took part in organized crime, the other group looked like one of their rivals, the red monsoons. They were about to get into an all-out fight and the kids were about to get caught in the middle. I had to do something.

Five minutes later, the 6 thugs are in varying states of consciousness and a crowd was gathering. I start running through back alleys being led by the two girls. They run the labyrinth like it was second nature and suddenly jump in to a large trash bin. Against my better judgment I followed. To my surprise it was clean. And dark.

"Thanks, what's your name" said a voice in the darkness.

"What she means is sorry for the trouble, she's Jin and my name is Song" Said the older one.

"No problem, getting into trouble is my specialty. Also, why are we in a bin?"

"They're safes, these bins are outside the normal pick up routes, and most people don't know that so we can just jump in them. They were put here by the f-"

"The group of kids we hang out with thought it up to get away from the tin cans" interrupted Song.

I heard the sounds of running footsteps and sirens overhead. I slowed my breathing and the other kids stopped talking.

_Szzzclink, arrrghh_.

The distinct sound of the metalbender cops catching someone

"Do you know who I am, you will regret this, stupid tin cans," shouted an angry triad

"You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be held against you"

"Freakin' junk heads, let go of m-"

"That's enough" The voice was a women's, strong and menacing.

"I don't know who you and I don't care, you're going to tell me who sent you, or prison won't be your only concern." She said this in a low and menacing voice that made my hair stand on end.

"Take him away,"

"Yes, Chief Beifong,"

Jin gasped, I gave her a shocked looked. Then realized she could see my face.

"What was that, I thought I heard something," _Sszzzink. _That, I would realize later, is the sound of chief of police retracting the pads of their feet in order to use seismic sense1. She stamped the ground and I knew instantly that she had found use. I did the first thing that came into mind.

"Who's in here?" Chief Beifong opened the trash bin. Inside was one very protective brother, holding his two little sisters close.

"A-a cop!" I said in a scared voice.

"Thank goodness you found us officer!" Chimed in Jin.

"Those bad men almost got us," Continued Song

Beifong turned "It's alright, they're just children, officer, take the suspect away"

She then turned back, "What are you guys doing in a bin?"

"We heard the fighting coming towards us and hid here" I answered.

I passed her Jin and Song and she lifted them out. I jumped out myself.

"Now you kids get on home, it can be dangerous here,"

"Yes mam" both Jin and Song chimed enthusiastically. I just nodded and turned away. If she recognized me I could be in trouble.

We ran off and as soon as we were far away enough that the cops airships couldn't see us we stopped.

"So what's your name?" Jin asked.

"Sorry?"

"You never told us your name,"

"Why do you need to know my name?"

"It's a simple question sheesh."

"It's Cai, Cai feng"

"Cai Feng… I could have heard that name somewhere else" said Song

"It's a common name in Ba Sing Se,"

" Wow you came all the way from Ba Sing Se! You know we could use you."

"What do you mean?"

"Kids like us we need to stick together,"

"You're 2 six year olds"

This is where Song came in "We have friends that are older they could use another partner. You know what? Don't worry about it" She then rummaged through her pockets, spilling watches and spare change.

"Ooops, need these" She picked them up and found what she wanted – a small metal whistle.

She blew on it and a shrill whistle was let out. I waited for a bit expecting something. A minute passed and nothing happened.

"Was that supposed to do something?"

"Wait a sec"

I waited another minute, then around the corner of the alley we were standing in, a teenager dressed in red ran around the corner, A skunk-weasel running just ahead of him.

I tensed up, who was this guy.

"Yo Jin, Song what took you guys so long?"

I let myself relax.

"Katoak, you wouldn't believe what happened to us,"

"That can wait who's your friend?" I could see the expression on his face change.

"He is uh," Song looked at me uncomfortably, I realized she didn't want to say my name without her permission.

I sighed, "My name's Cai, these two just helped me out and I was thanking them"

"That's one way to put it, another is that you singlehandedly took out 6 thugs and saved our necks," Jin piped in.

"I need to be going now," This was getting out of hand, I needed to get away, maybe move again, the more people knew the harder it would be for me to hide.

"Wait!" Song grabbed my hand and pressed her whistle into my hand, if you need a place to sleep at night, blow this.

I took it and ran.

"Nice to meet you mister!"

I jumped onto a bin and scaled the wall of a house, using earthbending to hold me to the walls. I reached the top and watched as I saw 4 shadow's running through the alleyways of a city going to sleep.

It had taken me a week to decide to blow the whistle, within a moment another teenager with a skunk-weasel, (which I think was the same one as before) came and taken me to an abandoned warehouse. There had been a dozen or so other kids there and I had been given food and a mat to sleep on that night. I didn't find Jin or Song there though

In the morning, the guy who found me had taken me to the front of Huan's building before running off himself.

* * *

I sighed, my search, I wanted to see the girls again, just to make sure they were all right.

"Fine, but you better not spew anymore crap about drafts and tricks,"

"Whatever you say Green,"

_Great, just great._


	2. Jin, Song and Friends

**A/N: ****Sorry about the slow chapters it takes me a while to write chapters and i tend to not put them up till I'm moderately satisfied with them**

**AS ALWAYS, PLEASE ENJOY & REVIEW ****J**

**JIN, SONG AND FRIENDS**

They took me to a warehouse about 7 blocks from the tower apartments. There were about 20 other kids there, some were older than the others and were directing them, but the majority of them seemed to be around 6 years of age. They slept on small roll mats, with up to three per mat, a few had rags to sleep with but all of them sat around fires with firebenders keeping them going.

What was strange was the kids themselves, most kids their age would be covered in half-healed scratches and bruises, and they would be small and weak. But most if not all of them were healthy looking, even if they were covered in filth and grime.

As far I could tell, the warehouse itself seemed clean if a bit old with broken crates lying in random assortment around the complex, and didn't seem like a half bad place to crash at night. That set off alarms in my head for me but I held my tongue for the moment. There was no reason for me to jump to conclusions here.

"This is where Jin and Song sleep,"

"How do you keep this place running?"

"A few of the shopkeeper's give us discounts, and I think you already saw how we make that money from Jin and Song,"

"Then why don't the outfits move into such a nice place for their operations?"

"Every time they try to muscle in on one of our houses, the tins receive an anonymous tip of some illicit activity in the warehouses of downtown,"

I smiled, "That's one way to do it I guess,"

"Cai! Over here" Something small crashed into my waist and knocked me over.

"Jin! What are you doing?" Screamed a small girl as she ran towards me.

"It's okay Song, I think I can survive with one kidney," I lifted Jin up and say her smiling with the last thing I expected to see sleeping in her hands.

"Do you like him? We found him in the warehouse a just after we met you"

"Is that a Hawk-Lizard?" Huan asked incredulously.

"No it's a Lizard-Hawk"

"No it's not, Jin. Huan was right, It's definitely a Hawk-Lizard," Song chimed as she scratched its chin.

"Whatever it is you two know the rules about pets right?" Huan said in a low voice.

"Don't worry Huan, this little guy gets all his own food,"

"I would hope so, I've been looking for him for 2 weeks," At my voice the black Hawk-Lizard's eyes shot open and he leapt on to me shoulder and scrambled onto my head, before going back to sleep. The girls jumped back at the sudden burst of activity from the creature.

"Hey what do you mean?" Jin asked.

I lifted my arm to scratch the wings of the odd creature nesting on my head "The reason I came to Downtown Republic City was because this little guy decided to fly off after some monkey-bat, where did you find him?" I lifted the creature off my head and ignored its protesting squeals. I examined his little body like a mother sabertooth-moose-lion, firmly holding his claws so they didn't flail.

"His name is Charon," The little Hawk-Lizard squeaked happily when it was let go nestled itself on my shoulders. It long tail wrapped around the front of my neck I like a warm scarf and his feathery wings tickled the side of my neck. "I picked him up a few months ago, I hope he hasn't caused you any problems while he was here"

"Actually, he's eating all the mouse-rats around the warehouse, we haven't been bitten in a week," Song answered.

Huan interjected at this point. "What about the skunk-weasels? They should eats the rodents, that's one of the reasons we caught them,"

"They don't catch the rodents half as well as Charon did,"

"hmmm... I'm going to have to do something about this, rodents are a serious problem," Huan walked towards some of the older kids organizing the others.

Song leaned forward whispered to me, and I knelt down to listen "Was that really Huan?"

"As far as I know. Why do you ask?" I whispered back.

"We've never seen him before that's why, he usually sends one of the watchers, for instructions," Jin said casually

"Watchers?"

"Yeah, you know the kids who-OWW"

Song pinched Jin and said to her, "JIN! If he doesn't know then Huan hasn't told him and we shouldn't either," Jin scowled at her and stuck her tongue. Despite being annoyed at once again being cut out of the loop I laughed as I watched the girls get into an argument with each other. I stayed kneeling down and only tapped Song's shoulder after they had stopped shouting.

Song turned to me, "Sorry Cai it's not that I don't trust you, it's just…"

"The way that things work around here," I finished, knowing what to expect. Jin and Song both nodded and looked down guiltily.

"Don't worry about it guys, seriously. I'm leaving Republic City soon anyway."

"What? Cai you can't we just met you—" Jin suddenly spoke up.

"At least stay for the recruitment tests," Song said.

"Huan asked me to go to one of those, I'm not going, street gangs aren't for me,"

"WHAT!" They both shouted in unison. I jumped back, I looked around and saw that a couple of the younger kids were watching us now but most kept sitting or playing next to the fire. Huan turned to me with what I can only assume to be a curious stare, but I couldn't be sure when his eyes were still covered.

"What do you mean street gang?" Jin practically shouted.

"Will you calm down Jin," I put my hand on her shoulder trying to placate her.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN STREET GANG?" Song shouted, surprising me. This time it was Huan who replied.

"Will you two be quiet, I've had enough problems without two children screaming a about pointless things," He said exasperatedly. Jin and Song looked chastised but stared daggers everytime they glanced at me.

"You can't be more than 2 years older than them Huan," I said absent mindedly. Jin and Song looked at me like I had just bloodbended them.

"Closer to 3 years Cai, but I see what you're getting at. You don't know about what's going on, who we are, what we do. All you see is a street gang. I think it's time I changed that preconcept-" Huan stopped mid- sentence.

He stamped his foot on the ground and all the fires in the warehouse went out, much to the protest of the kids who had used them for warmth.

In the darkness a whistling noise sounded, it came from where Huan stood and pierced the darkness like an arrow. As soon as it finished, I heard the scrambling of dozens of feet in the darkness. Charon scrambled into my shirt.

"Where are they going?" I whispered. Something pushed me backwards and clamped my mouth shut. I flailed wildly for a moment before Huan whispered into my ear, "Be quiet, Triads,". He turned my head towards the entrance which me had come through.

"Are you shure this is da place Kuza?"

"Shut-up and find him, Kinu's kid said he saw the brat here. Toni wants to pay the little snot back for the mess he caused,"

Two men had walked into the warehouse, one of them was all in black and had a fire burning in his hand, the other wore a grey shirt and black tie, and held a lantern. I gritted my teeth as I recognized them. One of them was one of the guy's I had taken out last week. I crouched over to a pile of boxes and watched as 6 more men, some with lanterns and some without started to spread out into the warehouse.

"Friends of yours?" Huan whispered to me.

"We go penguin sledding on week-ends," I said sarcastically,

"Right,"

I took Charon out of my shirt and whispered a few things to him and waited as he flew up into the darkness. "Stay right here." I said to Huan. He wasn't going to be much help with what I was about to do.


	3. Triads

Vanai looked at the dank room around him with contempt, he heard the soft pitter patter of rat-vole's feet, the stench of dried mud on old concrete and could taste the stink of decay like a decomposing body. He remembered sleeping in places like this when he had been younger. He hated every second it.

The floor was grimy and uneven, with cracked rock and crushed crates. The lights flickered erratically and his attempts at turning them on had been less than successful, only serving aggravate his mood. He set alight the dirty rags and cushions lying around, clearly someone had been sleeping here, but the dirt that covered everything made everything looks just as worn out. The piles of crates created a city of alleys and streets that forced his crew split up, and meant that they might be here for longer than expected

Vanai grinded his teeth, _This is some chump job, chasing some kid._ He was right though. He knew that he had stepped on the toes of one Zolt's lieutenants. Didn't matter which, none of them liked how he had earned the boss' favour, newcomer as he was. He didn't give a damn.

He sneezed and meticously wiped his gloved hands with the handkerchief in his pocket. He wore a black suit and a fedora that cast a shadow over his eyes in the dim light of the fire the burning in his hand. The red lapels of his suit stood out among the others, a custom made tailoring that had cost him a months earnings.

He stepped gingerly through the warehouse, avoiding scuffing his shoes or sliding by any of the crates, lest he got splinters on his blazer. He watched as triads kicked open wooden boxes and doused others in gasoline. They spread out like a pack of hyena-dogs, each member within earshot, if not sight, of the other. None of them wanted to be the one to say they couldn't find the kid, and all of them wanted to get the 100 yuans promised to the guy that found him. Supposedly easy money considering it was just a kid.

A clang rang out from where they had just came in.

"What was that?" Vanai said, "Junan, s'that you?"

"Nah I'm over here Vanai," Said one of the others.

Vanai spat and lifted his arm so that the fire in his hand illuminated the space in front of him. "Show yourself, punk, we know you're here,"

The ones close to him stopped to watch, while the others continued, oblivious or uncaring to the commotion behind them. _Who do they think they are? Bunch of wannabes._

"You have till the count of three to get out here before I ash you," Vanai he glanced around him to make sure he was the closest to his quarry and started to count. "One," He split his flame into both his hands, waiting, "Two" The flames grew in intensity until there were like bonfires in his hands, "Three," Vanai threw the fireballs into the darkness and grinned.

A shriek sounded out in the warehouse. All the triads turned to see the source of the scream and smiled. There was a collective boom of laughter as some small creature, its tail on fire, flew into the rafters and dived the firebender.

Vanai clenched his fists and doused the fire he had started before it reached the gasoline. "Stinkin rat's with wings," He blasted the creature again, immediately silencing those around him, and glared at the few who continued to laugh.

The black creature flew into the rafters seemingly unharmed, the fire gone out. It didn't make a noise as it knelt, only its eyes visible and looking at Vanai like a fire-hawk regarding its prey. _Looks like some kind of Lizard-hawk._

"Oy Junan, would you look at that, it seems Vanai made a friend," smirked one of the triads, "Junan?" He glanced around when he got no response.

Vanai waited before shouting, "Oy Junan, where the hell are you?" His voice echoed out into the warehouse but there was no reply. "You think this is some kind of game, huh? Get out here NOW," The other triads had stopped now looked at each other silently as Vanai shouted. He examinined the room around him for any signs of disturbance.

A scream pierced the silence, and one of the triads jumped in suirprise. It was the creature on the rafter, it seemed to laugh at them as it knelt, glaring at Vanai. _Don't laugh at me ya dumb bird_ He got ready to throw another fireball. Before he could though, it dived off of the beam and into the gap between some creates and landed with a muffled thud.

"If that _rat_ is not in my hands in the next three seconds, someone is going home looking like the esteemed peace Ambassador Zuko," He said, his voice was scarcely louder than a whisper, but three triads, all of them earth benders, ran in the direction of the where the bird had disappeared.

"And somebody find Junan, or the brat isn't the only thing getting torched today," The triads nearest to him ran off, eager to be out of his way, it wasn't wise to be near to firebender when the ground around them was dripping with gasoline.

_Bunch'a spineless cowards. _He thought bitterly.

There was a muffled thud somewhere in the distance, it had come from the direction in which the earthbenders had ran. The crates shook for a second then the noise stopped as suddenly as it began.

Vanai was a street kid, he never denied it, although he had broken the teeth of a few guys who brought it up. Living on the streets drilled into him the signs of trouble, he knew that the earthbenders were unconscious, probably 6 feet under the pavement by now, if the guy was any good. What he didn't know was how to deal with it.

_Couldn't be the kid, some Agni Kai must have got the drop on us._

He snuffed out the flame in his hand, opting to let his eyes get used to the darkness and stalked one of the other triads searching the warehouse. He switched triad a few times before settling with the lone person on the east of the warehouse, the most likely target for his would be ambusher.

The guy he was following was called Kolkat, he was an old guy in the triads, been in the gang even before Zolt, but he never did much, he kept to himself and was only a modest waterbender. He wore a trenchcoat on top of his shirt and trousers, an unusually mellow outfit for a member of the triads, Vanai wondered what the man did with all his money if not on the clothes and cars the rest of them could afford.

Vanai, tailed him for minutes, fully aware that while he waited, whoever it was could be taking down the rest of his triads. There was a flicker of movement in the crates above the Kolkat, Vanai stopped and waited to see what would happen.

* * *

I paused as I watched the old man continue to spill gasoline as he went. _All this just for me? _I thought to myself. There was little reason for the Triple threat triads to go after me, a random street kid. _I did get six of them arrested though._

Charon glided silently onto my shoulder, a small reassurance in what I had just done. Six of the thirteen triads were out of action, two waterbenders and a firebender lay between some crates, their arms, legs and mouth covered by the earth, and 3 earthbenders were unconscious. I calmed myself, being trained is one thing, actually using earthbending was quite another and this had been my first trial run.

I had taken each of them by surprise, binding them or knocking them out before they could so much as light a fire or throw a drop of water. I felt adrenaline rushing through my system and barely kept my movements silent as the I felt high on energy

I had been following the old man for ten minutes now, waiting for him to bend over, or present some kind of opening where I could force him down to the ground, once I could do that, earthbending would do the rest.

"Damn Vanai, stupid upstart," The thug muttered under his breath. "Could be back at home, listening to the radio if it wazn't for that punk,"

My heart was hammering in my chest as I tensed my legs and got ready to jump.

The thug stopped and bend backwards, stretching himself, unfortunately this also gave him full view of me, staring down at him like a gargoyle. Before he could draw breath I dived into him, my hands spread in front of me. I covered his mouth and as put the full weight and bracers onto his head. There was crack and he was unconscious. I stood up and glanced over him, he wore a trench coat and had a satchel of water tied around his belt, making it obvious he was a water bender. I reached patted him down, taking his wallet like I had the others and slinging his satchel over my shoulder.

I looked in his wallet before I restrained him, he had about 50 yuans and a picture of a little girl. "Dinner's on me," I joked casually to myself. "You should really invest in a bank account, although I guess that's pointless now,"

Suddenly Charon screamed on my shoulder and I dropped the wallet. A fireball hit me in the shoulder and I fell to the ground. The instant my shoulder connected with the wet concrete, the gasoline was set alight, lines of fire raced across the warehouse as every shadow was suddenly lit up by blazing fire. The shoulder that had been hit felt like it was being pressed against hot metal, even as I screamed in pain I wrapped the concrete of the floor around me like a blanket and smothered the fire.

I could hear thugs shouting, trying to find where the blaze had started, I could hear firebenders controlling the blaze and water benders dousing what I could only assume to be earthbenders. Across from me stood a tall, thin triad wearing a black suit with red lapels, a cruel smile was the only visible part of his face as the rest was hidden by a fedora. I watched as fire danced in his fingertips like dragons heeding to their master. _Damn it universe, what have I ever done except lie, cheat and steal from others._

"Well looky here boys, looks like we've found our runaway," The guy shouted, his voice carrying over the blaze easily. He grabbed me by the scruff of my shirt and slammed me into a pillar as if I was a ragdoll.

"Has anyone ever told you you're stronger than you look?" I said, as I gritted my teeth and tried to stop the ringing in my head and the pain that streaked through my body.

"As a matter of fact th—"

"I mean a _lot_ stronger, what are you? a stick with fancy clothes?"

Then he kneed me. All the air escaped my chest and I started to panic when it took me several seconds to breathe. He leaned close to me and whispered "Kid, my name is Vanai, remember it, because for the next few minutes, the how burned your little head is depends entirely on how I feel about you. Are we clear?" Then he got his other hand and lit a flame in it, he brought the flame closer to my head until it was starting to burn my cheek.

I tried to say something, anything to get him to stop the flame but I couldn't breathe.

"Nod if you understand."

I nodded.

He extinguished the fire and dropped me to the floor, finally allowing me to catch my breath.

By this time the fire had spread to the rafters and alight gasoline blocked most of the ways out of the warehouse. On the bright side this meant that none of the other thugs had reached us yet, on the other hand I was probably going to die.

Vanai pushed me in front of him, I could see the gears turning in his head as he realized lighting the gasoline had been a mistake. It was already too late to douse it as it had spread too far.

"Kids first," He placed a hand behind my head and I could feel him light a flame, reminding me not do anything stupid.

I watched as the fire in the path before me parted as if controlled by invisible strings. I got kicked in the back and was sent sprawling to the floor. I knew in this situation running would be futile, with this much fire around me, he could ash me before I had taken two steps or dug a hole. My best chance for escape would be when we were clear of the warehouse and the flames, of course this would also be when he had the most backup.

After a few moments we were close to the exit, I could feel cool air blowing in and hear the sounds of waterbenders dousing the fires.

_Definitely not the Tinheads, district's too poor for them to arrive this fast._ I thought to myself grimly.

"You hear that kid, you and me are about to get out of here, and then our _business_ can begin," He smiled unpleasantly. He stopped before turning to corner and grabbed me by the back of my shirt.

"Come out Huan, I know you're there,"

Nothing happened for a moment, then Huan stepped out from behind the crates, his green uniform in stark contrast to the fires burning all around, his eyes still covered by a blindfold. I looked at him incredulously, wondering why he hadn't run like I said.

"Was this really necessary?" Huan said

"Did you and your friends use this warehouse?" Vanai replied

"Yes,"

"Then definitely," He pulled me close to him before continuing, "Now you're going to move, or I'm going to burn you and your friend here. You should have brought reinforcements Huan,"

"Who says I didn't?" Then Huan whistled. I looked up and saw Charon dive from a hole in the ceiling and start clawing at Vanai's face. At that same moment, I bended my bracers so they formed gauntlets and elbowed him as hard as I could.

He didn't double over but he did let go of my shirt.. A screech pierced my ears and I watched as Charon was blown away by a breath of fire.

"You're going to pay for that kid, "Vanai said, glaring as I caught Charon and put him into one of my coat pockets.

Then I waited.

The only thing keeping the warehouse up at this point was spirits and good wishes, but none of us dared move. Vanai had to get through us to leave and every second he wasted he was closer to burning alive, too much fire and the whole building could collapse. We could run, but the moment we turned around, we wouldn't be able to see as he sent every flame in this building to burn us, and even if we escaped more than at least 6 triads would be waited outside. So we waited.

"Your call Cai," Huan whispered to me. He stood, still no expression on his face but he seemed on edge, his body ready to spring into life at the small provocation.

"What?"

"What do we do?"

"You're the leader of a huge gang, you decide,"

"I have no idea what we should do, and you seemed rather used to this situation for some random street kid,"

"First of all you're younger than me and second of all did I mention that part were you're the leader of a gain street gang," I frowned, sweat covered my face and was stinging the burn that was starting to form on my cheek. My eyes flickered around, looking for any way out of this stalemate, and then I realized the answer had been at our feet the entire time.

"Huan, just follow my lead and be ready for something stupid," Then I focused on Vanai and ran forward.

Vanai grinned. He raised his arms and brought them in a circular motion across his body, the flames all around me warped and twisted to intercept me. I leapt and did a scissor kick, throwing rocks at him even as I barely evaded to lines of fire that snaked below me. He sidestepped the rocks almost casually, but I heard the sound of ripping fabric and knew I had at least grazed him.

"That was big mistake kid," He said as I closed in. He clenched his fists and started sending a stream of fireballs at me, each one small but fast. I zigzagged across the floor, using the earth to propel my turns faster than should have been possible, but even then a fireball hit me in the leg and sent me sprawling at his feet.

"Sleep tight kid," Vanai said with a sneer and raised his foot to stamp on my head.

I prayed to the spirits that Huan was paying attention somehow and placed my hand on the floor and willed the floor to shift.

The concrete rippled and Vanai's body was thrown upwards 4 feet into the air by the combined force of two earthbenders striking the earth. He landed on the crates which immediately buckled and fell over, hot splinters flying around. Vanai cursed and shot downwards with his flame, counteracting gravity and propelling him violently towards the entrance. His shoes burned and his suit covered in ash and ripped in at least three different places, I watched as he was lifted up by the guys around him and dusted off.

_Why do the bad guys always get lucky? _I wondered _Then again it's probably best not to question the universe_

"Get off me," He pushed those closest to him away and looked at me, even through the flames and the smoke I could see his eyes, they were as red as dragon's blood and filled with anger.

He gestured to the thugs around him. He pointed to the roof of the warehouse and lit a flame in his hand. His intent was obvious.

"I hope you have a plan Cai," Huan was suddenly next to me "We have about 3 seconds befor—" There was an explosion as the first salvo of fire and earth from the triads hit the roof. Cracks started to appear all over the corrugated metal and the rafters that kept the roof up started to bend precariously.

"Help me collapse the floor," I said as I moved myself into position, I turned to face away from Huan and felt him press against me, back-to-back. I tense my arms and knelt. I pictured the ground around us collapsing, the concrete folding like paper.

There was a crashing sound behind me, and the weight of Huan's back disappeared. I ignored it and stabbed my hand into the ground and grinned with satisfaction as the once solid concrete parted like sand. I continued to push down, further and further until my arms were entirely inside the concrete. There was a crash as the roof gave way and the entire warehouse started to fall.

_Now or never,_ I thought to myself grimly, I dived in as if the ground beneath me was water and quickly made a prayer. _Spirits of the earth guide me._

* * *

**A/N:****Sorry about the long gap in writing, I'm not a very consistent writer.**

**That escalated rather quickly, all things considered. What do you guys think? At the moment I think I need to work on how each of sentences flow, but I'd love to know what _you_ think needs to be improved, ****as always, I appreciate any reviews you guys give me :)**


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